Space Fleet Space-Log Episode 28
Episode 28 - You may be a Terrible Rogue... but Subtle is our Specialty? Spacedate: 4257.101.10.30 Episode 28 picks up with our intrepid heroes adhered to the outer hull of a giant piece of wreckage of Starship One, battling a contingent of Ultra-Borged Space-Fleet Officers while Sgt. Johnson provided cover from the airlock of the Marine Shuttle with his Custom Multi-Weapon Spartan Laser. Four of the six bogeys had been taken out by Initiative 27 of the first Round, when suddenly another rank of Borgs had arisen on the next piece of debris over and unleashed a fusillade of Energy Rifle Strikes, hitting all of the Delta Squad Marines, (Criticaling three out of the four of them)! Ray fired up his Guisarme to take on one of the 2 close Borgs, but his nimble opponent Defended heartily! Meanwhile Zorff set up to engage in a Sniper Duel with the Borgs on the far side of the chasm, but his first target Natural 20'd his Defend. His next musket shot met with more success, but only thanks to using his Squad Command Bonus. Then R'ay connected with his Guisarm when his guy chumped his RF, getting killed for his trouble! Sprout charged in to unleash his Martial Arts prowess, but Fumbled, (safely at least). Braxx meanwhile jetted off across to a small chunk of wreckage right in the middle of the Debris Field, searching for a better angle on the far Borgs, (and to try an get into Pistol Range), but was distracted by a large piece of junk floating nearby that turned out to actually an Armored Cargo Pack. Sprout Fumbled again at this point, failing his Safety this time, and lost his next Action! Despite taking cover behind the debris chunk while he investigated the Cargo Pack, Braxxz was still taking fire, and was forced to Acrobatically Defend! Sprout was then hit with both a Puny Twirly Claw by the guy he was in melee with and an Energy Rifle Shot from a Sniper across the way. He rolled a Natural 20 on his Save against the Poison from the claw strike, but used a Benny from Chris to re-roll and succeeded. Zorf continued his long range battle, sniping the Borgs on the other side of the yawning chasm between the chunks of wreckage repeatedly. Then Sprout Decelerated his opponent, and Stunned him to boot, followed up by a Blazing Red Laser Bolt arcing across the Map courtesy of Sgt. Johnson and Betty, (pasting the Borg hard, but not quite hard enough to finish him off). Braxx was still taking cover behind the central piece of debris, and was forced to Acrobatically Defend multiple Energy Blasts this time. Ray meanwhile had had his Armor Class knocked down now, and was so started getting hit more and more frequently. Zorf continued to get hit mercilessly as well of course, but won the Sniper Duel, ultimately dispatching his Opponent. Braxxz clipped the Cargo Pack on to his grapple via one of its convenient hard-points and swooped out into the open, Bursting at the Ultra-Borgs and drawing their fire! All of the Ultra-Borgs lit up on him, but once again he Acrobatically Defended, (all 3 this time!). It was then that Braxx made his Perception Check and noticed another form floating in to the battle zone from over by the last major piece of Debris; an Ultra-Borg Commander! It was using the same smaller chunk of debris right in the center of the map that Brax had been taking cover behind to conceal its trajectory from the rest of the Party. Unfortunately, Braxxz failed to warn the group, perhaps distracted by having to Acrobatically Defend, (once again), this time against an Ajax Missile fired by a Borg that seemed to have a Missile Cannon? At this point, Sprout goes off on a Terrible-Rolling Rampage, constantly rolling just slightly less than his target, missing repeatedly. Johnson taunted him about his futility and tried to Kill-Steal his opponent once again, but the Ultra-Borged Officer rolled a Natural 20 Defend and dodged both of them, (despite never having Actions or Initiative again). Ray tried his Arc Lightning, but with his AC depleted he couldn't use the cheap 'bounce it off of his own Armor' trick, so had to spread his targets around, and only hit one of the defendy Space-Zombies. Zorf continued his withering hail of fire cross the gulf, assisting Braxxz with the second waive of targets. Ray Glaive-Killdarmed the second of the last of the close ones, then Zorf Crit'd a far one who chumped his RF, (but had the gall to still live). Then the Commander-Borg jetted in, catching Ray, Zorff and Sprout in her multiple Area Effect Auras. The Marines held fast though, and none were knocked Prone by the larger of the 2 AoEs, Zorf intentionally failed his Save against the Knock Back effect from the smaller one to put some space between himself and the Commander, but then got sniped in the back with a Borg Energy Rifle for his trouble. The Borg Commander then clawed Ray, penetrating him with her Nano-Tubeals and engaging her Active Nano-Lock on him, (yes that was an ANL-Penetration reference). Unbelievably, the guy that Sprout and the Sargent were both trying to hit was still alive, and managed to Defend again! Zorf proceeded to Fumble on his next Strike, failing his Safety and dropping his weapon, but like all good Space Marines he had it tethered with a strap, so it was no-harm no-foul. R'ay was actually damaged enough by now that Sprout had to heal him, (a first for this Season!). Braxxz finally killed the Borg he had been pelting with pistol fire, (with a 50 to Strike, possible new record?). He immediately followed up by Kill-Stealing Zorf's opponent, inspiring Sgt Johnsonto finally Kill-Steal the one that he and Sprout were having so much trouble hitting! Braxx swooped in on the last of the far Borgs, but Fumbled, bailed his Safety Check and ended spinning Prone in the vacuum. Seeing his opponent helpless, the Borg tried to take advantage by hitting Braxxz, (and the Cargo Pack), with another missile Strike, but the Damage was mostly eaten up by various RFs. Ray continued hacking away at the Commander with his Psionic Pole-Arm, but unsurprisingly she appeared to be even tougher then the other Borgs and just ate up the damage like it was yummy. At this point Sprout came over to help R\ay out with the Commander, who made the mistake of giving R'ay an Opportunity Action by shooting at Zorf, and Ray finally finished her off. Everyone in the Squad then teamed up on the last Borg, but he refused to cooperate and Defended verily! Until he Fumbled, and Zorf finally finished him with his Variable Blunderbuss. 1 Combat Awarded Spacedate: 4257.101.10.31 With the Ultra-Borg threat eliminated, the Delta Squad Marines returned to completing their survey mission. Braxxz failed at de-virusing the distress beacon, so Zorf had to do it, (confirming that yes, this was in fact the wreckage of the fables Starship One). Then they proceeded to scan the remaining pieces of wreckage; the second Nacelle seemed to have been blown clear of the debris field, so no more Ionic-Deuterium was to be found, but a trove of additional Transparasteel was noted on the largest piece of the saucer section. Upon their return to the Shuttle Sargent Johnson stopped caressing Betty long enough to commend them for their good work, although he mentioned that he was going to issue Braxxz a Citation for the repeated Friendly Fire, but re-thunk his position after Braxxz bravely swooped in on the second wave of Borgs and drew their fire. He also decided that the Cargo-Pack and the goodies it contained were clearly destined for the \Marines, and that they should just not mention anything about it in their report to the Space-Fleet Officers. Spacedate: 4257.101.11.07 Once the Squad returned to the Boreas, Admiral Bar-Ack made a moving Memorial Speech for the lost crew of Star-Ship One, (especially those unfortunate enough to get enborgenated, then ripped apart by the Marines). Afterwards, Master Chief Scotty commenced work on planning a Salvage Mission for the Blue-Shirts based on the Intel that had been recovered from the wreckage. It looked like this was going to end up tBoreasaking a couple or three days though, so it was decided that in the meantime the Marines would be dispatched to Laak 3 to investigate the distress signal emanating from the Planet. They were, of course, reminded repeatedly of the Red-Listed status of the native inhabitants, and the importance of not violating the Principal Edict in the course of their reconnaissance. In order to let the Marines prepare for their upcoming mission, they were granted 2-Four Hour Blocks Sprout payed Commander Petiole back the 2 Blocks he owed her, (making his Endurance Checks in impressive fashion), then made a play for more training. She seemed amenable, provided that he continued to pay her back in Gimp-Blocks of course. Zorf and Counselor Trois went to work making Psionic Disguise items in the hopes of the Laak 3 mission not going totally off of the rails for at least a few minutes after the Marine's arrival, while Braxx reconfigured the Ordnance on the Shuttle to work with the new Targeting System he had installed last week. Ray convinced Scotty to lend him a Blue Shirt, (OK, it was a Pity Blues Shirt), to help him build a Cloaking Field for the Shuttle as well. Episode 28 Epilogue What mysteries await our heroes on the pre-industrial planet with the en-virused distress signal? How will the Principal Edict withstand the mighty onslaught of the Delta Squad Marines? What could go wrong!?! 20 Generic Points. Back to Space-Log Category:Space Fleet